The events of September 11, 2001, and the worldwide proliferation of nuclear materials, including theft and smuggling, increase the possibility that a nuclear disaster may occur from the terrorist use…

Acknowledgment The authors would like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Kashuk for his contribution to the first edition. Description of event The continued perpetration of suicide bombings by terrorists throughout the…

Description of event Physics of Blast Injury Although the exact details of an explosion are rarely available to emergency providers, a basic understanding of explosives and blast-wave physics can help…

Civil unrest , also termed civil disturbance , is a spectrum of activities progressively disruptive to public order and tranquility. Civil unrest can occur whenever a group in the community…

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have existed since the first time a person used an explosive material in a different manner than that for which it was originally intended. The term…

The term active shooter first entered the medical lexicon after the 1999 Columbine school shootings. A variety of definitions exist for active-shooter events (ASE) and active-shooter and mass-casualty incidents (AS/MCI)….

Description of event Since the beginning of recorded history, people have been abducted or held against their will for a variety of reasons. In ancient times, hostages, usually of noble…

Coordinated simultaneous attacks in multiple geographic locations, both in the United States and abroad, with the intent to kill large numbers of people over minutes, hours, or days have become…

Acknowledgment We thank Dr. Eric Sergienko for his contributions to the first edition of this chapter; portions of Dr. Sergienko’s prior chapter were used in the Historical Perspective section. The…